A week after closing 50 Chicago public schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is touting an increased high school graduation rate as a sign that “we are pointed in the right direction, making the right decisions for our children.”

A projected 63 percent of seniors will graduate in Chicago this year, up from 61 percent last year.

According to the Emanuel administration, this is part of a rising trend over the past decade.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Education experts say the increase in graduation rates is because of reform efforts such as identifying freshmen at risk of failing and then working closely with them. Tracking freshmen was developed a decade ago by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research.

“There’s been multiple administrations, multiple reform efforts,” said Thomas Kelley-Kemple, a research analyst at the consortium.

After what has been a turbulent year for the nation’s third-largest public school system, CPS officials sought to put the best spin possible on the 63 percent projection, hailing it in a news release as the “highest” rate ever for CPS.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

Regardless of any spin Emanuel or CPS puts on these numbers,we want extend a sincere congratulations to all of our graduates!

 

What do you think accounts for the rising graduation rate?

Is public education in Chicago really “pointed in the right direction”?

Sound off below!